QUILCENE — A set of murals that had been displayed outside of the Seattle Aquarium for 32 years are coming to Quilcene.
“This is going to be great for Quilcene,” said Quilcene Conversations’ Linda Herzog, who shepherded the process.
“This is a very big deal.”
Each of the eight concrete and Plexiglas murals measures 6 feet by 5 feet. Each one is 1 foot thick and weighs about 150 pounds.
They will be moved to Quilcene next week and placed into storage while a plan for their display is developed.
The plan could take as long as a year, Herzog said.
Seattle artist Jacob Kohn created the eight maritime-themed murals, receiving a commission to design and construct them.
They were installed at the aquarium, where they were displayed until earlier this year when the aquarium was remodeled.
“These were a part of a lot of people’s lives around here,” Kohn said.
“You would talk about the aquarium murals, and they would know exactly what they are talking about.”
The murals were stored in Seattle.
This spring, Kohn heard from the aquarium management saying there was no place for the murals after the remodeling, so they needed to find a new home or they’d be destroyed.
Kohn wrote an email distributed throughout the area looking for a new home for the murals.
“I have less than a month to decide what to do with them and after that they will probably be destroyed and I can’t let this happen,” Kohn wrote.
“The murals have been a permanent fixture on the waterfront for over 30 years and I am sure they have been seen by millions of Aquarium visitors during that time.
“I have always called this my permanent ‘one man show.’”
Katherine Baril, former director of the Washington State University Jefferson County Extension office, received Kohn’s email and forwarded it to Herzog, who was sitting in the July 2 Jefferson County commissioners’ meeting and read it on her phone.
She responded immediately and eventually talked to Kohn, pitching Quilcene as a location.
Kohn already had his sights set on Port Townsend, but Herzog was persistent enough that he agreed to pay the town a visit.
In one email, Herzog said the murals would reach a lot of people.
“Scenic US Highway 101 runs through the middle of our village, and 1.6 million vehicles pass through town every year,” she wrote.
“If the average occupancy of those vehicles is only two, that’s over 3 million people who are potential visitors and ‘appreciators’ of your fine artworks.”
On Aug. 14, Herzog and several community members hosted Kohn and outlined possibilities for the placement of the murals throughout town.
The following day, Kohn called Herzog to say he will donate the murals to Quilcene.
“I was impressed by them and the town,” Kohn said.
“They have a lot of ideas.”
After the murals are moved from Seattle to Quilcene, Herzog plans to schedule community meetings to discuss where the murals should be installed and how they should be presented.
“That’s how we do things around here,” Herzog said of the public process.
Kohn is expected to participate in some of these discussions, Herzog said.
“This is wonderful art,” Herzog said.
“And we didn’t have to pay for it.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.